India 'disappointed' by US immunity for Pakistan intelligence service

India has expressed “disappointment” with the US’ decision to give immunity to Pakistan’s intelligence service in a civil case by US survivors and families of the victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

New Delhi has long accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and its former chiefs, Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Nadeem Taj, perpetrated the Islamist attacks which left 166 people dead, AFP reports. Islamabad denied such accusations.

The families of six Americans filed a case in New York which named ISI and its two former chiefs as defendants. “In the view of the United States, the Inter-Services Intelligence is entitled to immunity because it is part of a foreign state,” the US state department said in a statement.

India’s ministry of external affairs rebuked the US affidavit in a statement, saying: “For India, it remains of vital importance that justice is done and that those who organized and perpetrated this horrible crime be brought to justice, irrespective of the jurisdiction under which they may reside or be operating. It cannot be that any organization, state or non-state, that sponsors terrorism enjoys immunity.”

“In this context the decision of the US authorities in this case is a cause of serious disappointment,” the ministry said.